HMV saved from closure after 50million deal which will save 2,500 jobs

HMV saved from closure after 50million deal which will save 2,500 jobs
141 iconic HMV stores will be saved by restructuring firm HilcoMusic and film companies 'back the deal' as they want to keep a High Street rival to internet retailersFirst HMV store opened on Oxford Street in 1921

By
Rob Cooper

PUBLISHED:

09:30 GMT, 5 April 2013

|

UPDATED:

10:03 GMT, 5 April 2013

The HMV brand has been rescued after administrators agreed a 50million deal which will save 2,500 jobs.

Hilco, a specialist restructuring firm, will acquire 141 HMV-branded stores – including 23 which had previously been set to close.

The iconic brand had faced disappearing from high streets altogether if a rescue deal could not be agreed.

Rescue package: The iconic HMV brand is set to be saved in a 50million deal which will preserve 2,500 jobs

Major music companies and film studios,
keen to keep a major distribution channel, are
understood to have agreed to new supply terms with HMV and have approved
the deal.

The buy out will involve the company emerging from administration, backed by a new company incorporated in the UK.

The chain is expected to be run by HMV executives together with newly-appointed figures from Hilco.

HMV called in administrators from Deloitte in January but hopes of a rescue deal were subsequently raised after Hilco bought the company's debt.

Declining sales: HMV went into administration in January as it battled against declining sales of CDs and DVDs as well as competition from supermarkets and online retailers

It was announced in February that 66 of HMV's 220 shops would close over two months, at the cost of nearly 1,000 jobs.

Hilco, which has turned around the HMV Canada business it bought in 2011, has been involved in many high profile UK retail restructurings, including Habitat, Woolworths and Borders.

Last year it was also brought in to clear stock and close stores at Clinton Cards and JJB Sports.

Iconic: The classic HMV logo with Nipper the dog which is familiar on Britain's high streets

A rescue for HMV, whose Nipper the Dog trademark is a familiar logo on the British high street, would be a timely boost for retailers as pressure on consumer spending and a shifting trend to shopping online hit businesses hard.

Along with Woolworths and JJB Sports, well-known firms like MFI and Comet have also fallen by the wayside in recent years.

English composer Edward Elgar opened the first HMV store on London's Oxford Street in 1921.

But after 92 years they were facing closure after struggling with declining CD, DVD and video game markets as well as fierce supermarket and online competition.